Young people, children and women in the UK are being failed by Government
health policies, an international review finds

Young people who are not in employment or education in Britain are “a public health time bomb waiting to explode,” the World Health Organisation has said.

‘Neets’ – or young people not in employment, education or training – were likely to have worse health than their employed counterparts and the Government needed to act to ensure health inequality does not become entrenched, the authors of a report by the organisation claimed.

The review also found that children and women would be better off living in many other European countries, including Eastern European states, than in the UK.

“Unemployment may be falling in the UK, but persistent high levels of the number of young people over 18 not in employment, education or training is storing up a public health time bomb waiting to explode,” said Professor Sir Michael Marmont, who chaired the study.

"We are failing too many of our children, women and young people on a grand scale.

"I would say to any government that cares about the health of its population: look at the impact of their policies on the lives people are able to lead and, more importantly, at the impact on inequality.

"Health inequality, arising from social and economic inequalities, are socially unjust, unnecessary and avoidable, and it offends against the human right to health."

Across the UK there are are 1.09 million 16 to 24-year-olds in the ‘Neet’ category, or 15.1 per cent of the population in that age bracket, according to data published this year.

And death rates for under-fives in the UK - which stand at 5.4 per 1,000 live births and are linked to poverty - are higher than most countries in the east of Europe, the Review of Social Determinants and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region found.

Children are more likely to live in poverty in Britain than many other countries in Europe including Iceland, Cyprus and Ireland, it said.

Sir Michael added: "Good quality early years provision must be a priority for all children. But childcare in this country is expensive and many people cannot afford to utilise it or go back to work after having children.

"There needs to be a broad range of social policies, including improvements in every child's start to life, adequate social protection that can act as a buffer against low income over the life-course, and provide a minimum standard for healthy living."

Female life expectancy in the UK is 83, behind Spain, France and Italy, where it is 85, and Cyprus and Germany, where is it 84.